Since I returned from the South (where it is 79F today) we’ve only had one day of spring-like temperatures. It’s so depressing you’d think the government had gotten ahold of the weather.

However, when it does decide to warm up, it will probably be as hot as hell.

My game leg is slowly healing so that I can now get around quite comfortably. However, depending on how I sleep, it tends to ache at night. This is a bit annoying because I do love my sleep.

I also managed to get my books in order for Canada Revenue and income tax. It took me three or four days because I kept discovering things that I had missed. It’s quite incredible the amount of work we do (gratis) for the government, just for the privilege of giving them more money.

With this miserably cold and wet weather, I have only spent one afternoon in the gazebo. Otherwise, I have been housebound on the inside looking out … Not that the conditions have been all that inspiring, anyhow.

About the only one to benefit from these cool and damp conditions is the thieving hydro company, because the electric furnace is still burning up dollars in the basement.

I am getting lots of writing done, though, and I am beginning to think ahead to the next novel.

More the next time.

Don’t forget my other book, Nor All Thy Tears: Journey to Big Sky – available in paperback, Kindle and Nook formats. See Amazon or Barnes and Noble for details.

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I fell yesterday, at my favourite Thai restaurant, and the lovely Thai couple who own it always go out of their way to accommodate me. This time they thought I was going to sit on my walker, so, unbeknownst to me, they removed the chair.

To explain, I generally back up to the chair before I sit down, but this time there was no chair on which to sit. The result was, I ended up on the my back on floors, and in the process I very painfully twisted my knee.

Fortunately, I have discovered that I can ‘walk it off,’ but I have to start about five minutes before I go out the door. Where there is a will there is a way, however.

We had a nice spring this year. It lasted for a day-and-a-half, and for the next week, the forecast is for rain and barely 60 degrees (15C).

It has always been my opinion that we should not have left this time of year to some fickle tart by the name of “Spring.” I’d swear that she has something going with old man winter, or is still tanning her ass in Kingsland, GA, (where the temperature is 81F)!

I’ve spent most of the week getting my papers ready for income tax. Have you ever stopped to think how much time we spend working for the government (and not being paid for it)? To add insult to injury, the government then turns around and gives the money … OUR money, to a bunch of corporate welfare bums. It’s disgusting.

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No matter how many times I fly, it always turns out to be an adventure.

Last year it took my four days to get home from Belize because of mechanical problems, storms over Miami and missed connections.

Wednesday, I arrived at Jacksonville International Airport at 9:30 AM for a flight aboard Air Canada at 2:00 PM. That’s when I discovered Air Canada doesn’t actually have a terminal – or a sign – so after trapesing the length of the terminal twice (with walker and luggage), I discovered that I was really flying United.

I hadn’t stopped for breakfast at the hotel because it was too expensive for what I wanted (a coffee and a muffin), so after clearing security I had a coffee and a bowl of chicken noodle soup – which would prove to be the only meal I ate all day.

Then I settled down to await the 2 o’clock flight.

Meanwhile, I hadn’t noticed that they had put up at sign reading “Now 3:30,” Apparently, there were crosswinds at Newark, and from being able to handle 50 planes per hour it declined to about 38 with incoming planes from all over the USA and the world wanting to land there.

To make matters worse, amidst all this chaos we got shoved back to 6 PM, with my connecting flight leaving from Newark to Toronto at 6:45.

The flight captain, a very layback guy and helpful, put the pedal to the medal and got us to Newark by 8:00 PM, but knowing that I would probably have to go through security again (even though I was still on a United Airlines flight – the same one I had been cleared through in Jacksonville) because this was now an Air Canada flight in a UA plane -confusing isn’t it? – I was starting to worry that I wouldn’t make my 9:35 connection.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, as the case may be, the 9:35 flight was delayed to 10:35, which then raised questions about whether my ground transportation shuttle would still be there when I arrived.

With good luck it still was, so I got to my house at 2:30 AM (an 18-hour day!)

The bright side is that it was shorter than the four days it took to get home from Belize.

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The weather is typically Canadian: Dark, dreary, wet and cold. When I left, the heat index was 104. When I arrived it was 46F. Today it is 51 and raining, and Environment Canada is has issued a flood warning.

And just to make sure I wouldn’t miss a snowfall, it arranged for wet snow tomorrow and Sunday. *sigh*

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I started at around 11:00 AM, it is no 2:18 PM and I think I’m finished.

The first attempt worked well, but when I got the confirmation it was for the wrong day and 2 people.

“No problem,” said their propaganda, just do this, this, and this, which I did … Except that the second this was no place to be found. Therefore, the third this wouldn’t work.

“Okay,” says I, “I’ll phone the hotel (at a $4.00 per minute roaming charge) and speak directly to them.” Which I did, except that they couldn’t change it because the reservation had been made through Expedia. “But you can call them,” suggested the desk clerk.

Another telephone call (at $4.00 per minute) connected me to a gal in Pakistan with an unintelligible accent, and her understanding of English was not much better. However, by now it had cost me something like $40 in telephone charges, so I was ready to accept anything just to be done with it.

Bottom line: I think I bought the hotel!!

It’s 90F (feels like 104) today, but I’ll be going home to 48F! Ulp.

More next time.

Don’t forget my other book, Nor All Thy Tears: Journey to Big Sku – available in paperback, Kindle and Nook formats. See Amazon or Barnes and Noble for details.

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The weather is perverse, or maybe it’s just my luck. Here in Georgia, we’ve been praying for rain with litttle result – for the Okefenokee fire as well as the farmland – but for the two days I will be travelling we are forecast to get thunderstorms and downpours.

A group of firefighters moved into the hotel yesterday, so dinner is a bit more scenic. Nice fellows, though; Quiet and respectful, and no ‘caveman’ parties. Not that I’ve heard, anyhow.

The prediction about the fire is that it could burn for six months. The problem is that – because of the dry conditions – it goes underground in the peat, and can break out again almost anywhere.

I wrote about a similar situation in Two Irish Lads, and when I was young, the bush on our farm – along with several others – burned for nearly a month.

The Canadian dollar continues to loose ground to the ‘greenback.’ This morning it is barely above $0.73, so between “Maleficent” Wynne and “Twinkle Toes” Trudeau, I am getting poorer every day. My investments are going nowhere, as well, so it’s a double whammy of bad news!

But, now it is burning, and officials say it could burn for six months. I hope all the critters that call it home are okay.

The final countdown has started, so I am doing all the last minute things – especially those the involve someone or something else. For example, I discovered that the local ATM won’t accept my debit card for some reason or other, and I will need cash to get from here to Jacksonville.

Fortunately it does accept my Visa, but it is these sort of setbacks that I try to avoid at the last minute.

It has gotten noticeably cooler since we had a bit of rain (not enough to do any good to the ground or wildfire – but it is forecast to warm-up toward the end of the week.

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You can’t hold back the hands of time, so they say, and as a corollary I can add that only the good things pass quickly.

Southern Georgia has become my adopted home away from home, and if it weren’t for governments involvement – American and Canadian – I’d be staying right here.

Of course, I’d miss my friends back home, but it’s easier for them to come to 80-degree temps than it is for me to get around in the snow … And that’s just the beginning.

However, as it is I can only be here 183 days, and away from Canada for 183 says, so it’s homeward bound (if I don’t get bumped from an overbooked flight).

Today, it is 84 with a slight breeze. We do need rain, but there is none in the forecast until Sunday, and I am not going to hurry the days along any faster than they already are.

I continue to play foreign exchange roulette with the Canadian dollar. Monday morning it stood at $o.755/USD, so I made a payment on my USD credit card at about $0.752. Just now, it stands at $0.74. So much for Twinkle Toes’ management of the economy. *sigh*

Of course, there is always a downside to everything, and presently there are a bunch of brats in the pool – girls, who can’t seem to do anything without screaming. Drama queens in the making.

More next time.

“Two Irish Lads: Second Edition” – Available in Nook and Kindle formats.